


Find Me in the Drift

by hitagashi



Series: Redefining the Drift [3]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013), The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Pacific Rim Fusion, Companionable Snark, Crossover, Friendship, Gen, Humanformers, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Non-Linear Narrative, Snark, Starscream is hella old, Starscream stop cycling through partners, it's rude, like dang son, like he's older than old
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-18
Updated: 2013-10-18
Packaged: 2017-12-29 17:49:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1008285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hitagashi/pseuds/hitagashi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Megatron's goodbye aches worse than most might ever know.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Find Me in the Drift

The last thing he heard from Megatron was 'you'll always find me in the Drift' before he'd been ripped out of their Jaeger. Starscream _howl_ _ed_ , screamed and screeched at such a volume that the kaiju seemed shocked. He forced the Jaeger to move like him, to move faster than the eye can catch and slam into the damned beast that took away the only solid rock he'd ever known.

“DIE, KAIJU SCUM!” This is all he knew to say as he slammed his machine's fists in again. And again. The blade in Megatron's formerly controlled hand ripped through the face of the thing. And before he knew it, he was in the hospital recovering from wounds that he doesn't remember.

Megatron was dead.

_His mind curls over the last glimpse of everything he'd been sent. It hurts, in the way things aren't meant to hurt, and pulses like a gaping wound. Memories of their fondest times together, bouncing in his head like crazy._

They met not because they might be compatible (in fact, it's assumed they wouldn't be) but because Starscream is training himself. The clumsy oaf had slipped and fallen after watching him for a brief enough time to wonder just where Starscream had learned to fight like that. Starscream had screeched, vivid red eyes narrowed into slits as he charged Megatron.

He got caught.

It made his fury turn to shock and then to curiosity. In the span of seconds (and oh, how Megatron had marveled at the speed of his mind and how everything was a distinct color and not an image unless called upon) Starscream had him pinned to the floor with a wide grin. Someone had caught him.

“Again.”

The man had managed to knock him down twice. But the Seeker was still faster.

Friends.

_He ignores the monitor, too focused on the flood of actual, solid, moving imagery as memory instead of color and reliance on the way wind moved against his Wings to see what happened._

Cyclonus stuck them together anyway. Apparently he'd seen them chatting amiably and walked passed the training room reserved for Starscream to hear them training. More likely, he'd heard Starscream correcting a cage fighter's form for actual combat. It helped that the Seeker had seen War before, at times. Helped him teach rookies how to move.

Like his last partner.

Megatron had been asking about him, curious.

“He's dead.” That's how he replied. Blank, cold, unsure how to inflect that he didn't quite care for the nuisance. And a nuisance he had been, Seeker or no. Tried to use his new status as co-pilot to worm his way into Starscream's position.

“How?”

And wasn't that the kicker? Because out came the story, every last detail, how they weren't remotely compatible but stuck together because they were _Seekers_ and how the glitch had thought that being Starscream's co-pilot made him more important than most. But really, if his Trine didn't advance then why would an idiot?

“He made the mistake of pursuing my niece without her consent and constant rebuttal. In Seeker culture, this is one of the first signs of intent to rape. We don't tolerate it. We dispose of threats. That's all.”

“Hm.” He paused, catching his breath and then grinned one of those cruelly sweet grins at him. “Work on how you talk. You sound like an uppity asshole.”

“We'll see.”

_A deep breath goes through him, wing flaps shifting curiously._

Their first Drift was almost a train wreck. Rather, they'd been so excited over it that they'd forgotten to disengage from the platform and had to catch themselves so they didn't fall flat on their face. Random, of the Blitzwing triplets, had laughed at them. Not their fault, really. They stood, set up their basic movements.

And then Megatron chased a R.A.B.I.T.

Starscream was thrust into the Games that he knew were held in the underground and funded by rich fools. He saw Megatron being beaten badly, in a way he thought the former gladiator might not survive. But he did. They ran the risk of a shut down.

Too inexperienced.

Too much trauma.

Starscream called bull shit.

With that in mind, he pulled out his own R.A.B.I.T. from the hat. It was a happier memory, thankfully, but one that drove his last partner a little off the deep end.

He'd turned 100 and celebrated it by mourning his parents. He looked no different, sounded no different. Still the same as ever. He wondered if he were cursed by Primus himself. A small snort had escaped his partner then, the pair disentangling themselves slowly.

'How old _are_ you?' This said over the link, not for anyone else to hear. A wry grin, head turning to look Megatron in the eye.

'I turn 300 years old this Autumn.' Red eyes went wide and suddenly the reason for his discomfort in explaining family trees made sense. The Drift took over again, merged their minds fully, much more so than before. 300 years of fighting experience between the two of them, easily. This was interesting enough.

_The beeping is getting worse and he swears he'll break the machine if he has to._

Their first kill together had been a Category 2. Megatron was shaken. They hadn't been in time to save the people targeted. It took the Seeker a moment to understand, red eyes narrowing. He didn't feel pity, nor did he feel guilt, but he was sympathetic. So he told him about the first time he'd been in a fight when they were in Starscream's quarters.

“The first war scenario I was in I ripped off someone's arm.” It had the other man's head shooting up, sickness clear in his face. He'd wanted to change the gap in society, thought it was interesting that Starscream was nothing like the others he'd met. But this? This was....

Starscream had just shaken his head and smiled.

“He and his men had placed a type of bomb there. Back then, of course, it didn't look like one, but the procedure was still the same. It was an orphanage.” A deep breath, nose crinkling in distaste. “I disabled the thing but... well, he had a backup. Half of the orphanage ended up as rubble. Elevenchildren and their caretaker died that day.”

One of the children had thought he'd betrayed them too.

“The reason I told you isn't to make you sick. It's to make you understand. You can't save them all. You'll want to. You'll try. But there's going to be deaths. Can't do anything about it but hope, selfishly, that it's not one of your loved ones or that it's not a child.” He took a deep breath and pressed both hands to his friend's face. “Don't let it hold you. Don't become like me. You won't ever escape it otherwise. It'll consume you and nothing will keep you safe from the guilt you'll feel.”

“Do you have a wish?” Starscream stopped, curious, then sighed.

“My wish is rather anticlimactic, I'm afraid.” A snort and even he had to grin at the regression. “I want to sleep. I won't ever die so I want to sleep forever. But that's my wish for myself. My wish for others is that the kaiju are destroyed and people no longer have to fight for food and don't have to sell themselves to afford dinner.

But if I had to wish for something attainable... then I wish for my friend, Skyfire, to wake up from his coma. And I wish for the kaiju to die, by my hands or not.” A wry grin, thumbs stroking over a strong jaw. He'd always marveled at the difference between his Seekers and others. “Maybe, to feel wind on my Wings again and to take you flying. I think, one of my greatest dreams, is to take you to the Spires. So you can see them up close.”

“Even if I end up bitter and jaded?”

“ _Especially_ if you end up bitter and jaded. It'll fix it. In you at least. In me, well, it holds off the nastiness.”

_He vaguely heard Ratchet yelling at him. **Wake up, Starscream!** It was echoing in his ears. He just wanted to think about his partner. The only one he could Drift with._

They'd managed to get an old movie. How, no one knew, weird whispers started up from it. Starscream waved a hand, said 'stashed' and then settled comfortably onto the arm of the chair he pretty much shared with Megatron. He would never explain his trade secrets though.

“What movie?”

The Seeker smirked at Tailgate, winking at their boss almost covertly. Except it was kind of obvious. Their boss gave a humorless snort at that, shaking his head kind of fondly. Starscream could only tell because of how old he was. It came with age.

“ _Long ago,_ _in the faraway land of ancient Greece, there was a golden age of powerful gods and extraordinary heroes. And the strongest of all these heroes was the mighty..._ ”

“Hercules!” There was an excited murmur so Starscream actually had to pause it until it calmed down. “How'd you find it?”

“Seeker-it.” And the people laughed before he fielded their questions. “I'll tell you all after the movie.” And so it started up again. His Wings twitched in amusement, eyes focused on the ones in their group just barely into adulthood. He knew the older ones would appreciate it but to think that the ones that were basically children did made him warm fondly.

He watched as everyone kept rapt attention to the screens, smiling softly. It was a treat, one he didn't think he deserved to be fair.

It was over too quickly for him to be happy. His heart clenched painfully at that. To know these children had never known this made him ache. But he'd promised.

“Where'd you get it?” This from Cyclonus, eyebrow raised. He hadn't known, of course, what happened with Starscream's things. That was something only Megatron got to know. Still, there was a grin on the dark face, red eyes almost amused at his boss' not knowing.

“Stashed.” And oh, if he could live a thousand more years he would never forget the look of incredulous annoyance that the man bore. It was wonderful. An oddly gleeful chuckle rose from him, slipping passed his lips almost on accident. Almost, because Starscream never did things by accident. Usually.

“I protect them. They're mine and I keep them safe. That right there's a copy so the original doesn't get wrecked.” Haughty smirk in place, the Seeker hopped down from his spot and slid into place in front of the monitor. “I've got more. Just so you know.”

_**This shouldn't be happening!** He ignores it, eyes squeezing shut against light. But mostly it's against the pain he feels from knowing that these were memories that Megatron had cherished. To think, he'd almost refused this. But now he wishes, almost, that he had. Protect himself from this._

His Trine had arrived. He remembered Megatron looking like he thought he was left out. He'd found out he did feel that way, at first. But really, they were partners which made him pretty much Trine. He'd pulled the man into place beside him, giving a wave to Skywarp and Thundercracker. That stupid salute of theirs (that everyone took with him if they were a Seeker) and then suddenly rapid fire questions to and about Megatron.

“Peace, peace. _Churishka_ 's with us. Now, c'mere and let me look at you two.” Curious hands had smoothed over their hair, their faces, as much of them as he could reach. They were young and silly and that meant it was worth the exasperation they showed to do it. “Getting stronger, huh? Not gonna need me much longer.”

The pair had blinked and then Skywarp had flashed a bright smile.

“Hey! You're talking like a normal person!”

“What Warp means is-”

“I know what he means. You can thank Bucket Head here for that. C'mon, let's go talk, you can meet Megatron properly and he can wipe the floor with you two.”

_He can almost feel the frantic hands on him but ignores it in favor of all this pain he's never felt before in his long, long life._

They suited up like any other day. Went through their exercises like any other day. And still, somehow, he knew something was wrong. Call it a Seeker's magic, like some of the superstitious, but there was something bad that was going to happen.

“Don't worry, Starscream, it'll be fine.” Red eyes had narrowed, eyebrows furrowed and lips curled back. His Wings were vibrating in an almost nervous fashion too. To think, he couldn't figure out why it was so awful. Settling into their Jaeger, he let the calm of Megatron's mind ground him before they did their standard opening touch.

“Let's scrap this maggot.”

“Bet we get to it before Blitz can get to it.”

“Ha! Bet we can scrap it before that! Bet my lunch.”

“You're on, old man!”

“Let's move it, geezer.”

The pair laughed loudly, heard even with their siren going off. They touched down easily enough and charged.

“Launch missiles.” Starscream's voice echoed through their comm, their Jaeger unleashing a steady stream of missiles from their left hand and their chest. The sound of shifting gears heralded the next words.

“Release sword.” The cage fighter threw their weight into the kaiju just in time for Blitzwing to land. “You've got to be- I lost.”

“Whoop, whoop! Double lunch for me!” They heard Random cackle at that and couldn't help but grin as they jumped on the kaiju.

Then everything went to shit. Quickly, too.

The kaiju knocked _Lightning Speed_ onto its heavy back.  
It spun itself to be behind the _Immortal Huntsman_ so quickly they almost missed it.  
Scorponok, as it was called, stuck its hand into their chest.  
They couldn't disconnect and they struggled in the thing's grip.  
And they shared a small grin with a single “got your back” before Megatron was ripped away.

These memories, now, were not Megatron's. He felt the crippling pain of loss like he hadn't when his siblings and parents had died. It ached for the briefest of moments and then, with a loud howl, he flew into a rage only a Seeker could manage. All that with one phrase echoing through his head.

**Find me in the Drift.**

_Starscream jerks awake. His eyes are wide and tears are falling. He_ screams _and thrashes in place. His claws drag into the bedding and he howls in an attempt to cover the pain he feels. They were_ connected _when Megatron died._

With a sigh, hands clenching into fists, Starscream walked out and off of the base. He didn't look back, didn't think to do so. He merely held his duffel in one hand and then slung it over his shoulder. Phantom pain, like a phantom limb, hit him like it had been constantly. He'd been so deeply entrenched in Megatron's mind that they were more like one person and not two co-pilots.

He'd heard the Walls needed people who weren't afraid of heights. Why not go there? And so, the Seeker took off, not once glancing back.

**Author's Note:**

>  **Churishka** \- The wind that grants on peace.
> 
> Yeah, this is a thing. This is how Megatron went and lost his memory.
> 
> Seeker-it was mentioned in this one group chat and I stole it. Starscream is officially a hoarder.
> 
>  
> 
> [The image at the bottom's Tumblr link. Don't repost it please.](http://hitagashi.tumblr.com/post/64343991861/for-my-vignette-style-type-series-set-thingy)


End file.
